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Safe Landing For Space Shuttle Discovery
dylanduck writes "Discovery is back safe and sound, despite minor problems with a leaky power unit and a last minute change of approach direction to the runway. The mission tested some post-Columbia safety changes, and also set up the space station for future construction. But in some ways, the tough job starts now - NASA has just 40 days or so to get Atlantis up."
I can't wait for the next mission.
This is a perfect example that STS program has fulfilled expectations placed on it. Astronauts are now able to go to low earth orbit, take pictures of the shuttle and land it safely.
Oh? The scientific experiments? We forgot about those. Maybe next time.
It won't be easy, the wraith will find it soon and the power cells can only last so long.
This was technically the last flight to test the changes made for the CAIB recommendations.
In the next flight, the shuttle program resumes the construction of the ISS (not just delivery of the supplies and take back some garbages). So until the next mission is complete, I wouldn't say that we are back on track with this mission.
It's good to have her back safely, nontheless.
The media tends to concentrate on problems with the Shuttle, but we forget that there have been minor problems and glitches with any of the prevous manned space programs. We hear about the missions where they had major problems, such as Apollo 13, but even John Glenn (The first American to orbit the earth) had a problem with his heat shield which could have prevented a safe reenty. What makes for a good space program is not that everything goes perfect, nothing ever does (ask Mr. Murphy), but how mission control handles problems as the crop up. The same could be said for any technological undertaking. A good programmer is not one who writes a program without bugs, but one who is able to find them and make the corrections before they cause larger problems.
Upon entering Kennedy Space Center, Homeland Security made the crew take off their shoes, belts, and put laptops into plastic bins before entering.
"Space exploration is dangerous"
Put on roller-skates, all your winter clothing, welding goggles, motorcycle helmet, then strap on fifty pound bags of cement until you can barely walk, and crossing the street is dangerous.
While I have a great deal of respect for the people who fly the thing -- astronauts, controllers, all -- the shuttle is a set of fatal compromises driven by budget and politics. The shuttle has done more to hold space travel back than any other spaceflight program. It needs to go.
I'm hoping for a dropped wrench in the VAB -- no lives lost, but we lose another shuttle to something mildly spectacular. That would put a thankful end to the program, whereupon we could start spending the money where it counts: Unmanned programs, and launch vehicles that don't suck.
(I used to be a big shuttle fan until I realized how much it was costing us).
Any sufficiently advanced technology is insufficiently documented.